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A guide to being Mayor of Bristol
Article 8 from Book 1 of Somerset Legal Corpus Article 8 Art. 1.8.1.: The citizens of the Duchy are also citizens of a specific town of the Duchy. The towns constitute the primary political unit of the Kingdom. Art. 1.8.2.: Each town is governed by a Mayor elected by a simple majority vote of the citizens of the town. In case of a tied vote, the older candidate shall win. Art. 1.8.3.: The Mayor is responsible for the management and development of the economy and social life of the town. Art. 1.8.4.: If a Mayor resigns or is unable to administer the office of Mayor properly, the Duchy Council may appoint a replacement administrator through a sanctioned revolt, if needed. This replacement will have the same rights of an elected mayor and administer the town until the next mayoral election. Art. 1.8.5.: The Mayor shall ensure that the laws of the Duchy and Ducal decrees are followed in the town. Art. 1.8.6.: The Mayor can file and prosecute a case in the County Court in the name of the town. Art. 1.8.7.: The Mayor has legislative power over the town. The Mayor may make municipal decrees that will have the force of laws for a limited time. All decrees must be in accordance with the Duchy laws and King's edicts and must receive the approbation of the Duchy Council. This approbation is given when the Duke ratifies the decree. Duration: A decree shall remain in effect for 6 months from the time of ratification. The effectiveness and necessity of the decree shall then be reviewed. Following review, the decree may or may not be presented to the County Council for further approbation. Art. 1.8.8.: The Mayor has the right to collect taxes on fields and workshops. Taxes may only be levied every 15 days. The delay of the payment is 7 days. Failure to pay taxes is a crime subject to prosecution./quote/quote A Guide to being Mayor of Bristol Being Mayor of Bristol is no easy task. This guide should give you a little insight to being the Mayor of Bristol. If you're considering a run at being the Mayor of the capital, you'd best take a good read to know what you will be getting yourself into. List of Contents Introduction Daily Activities Grants Civil Servants Policy Introduction to Guide It's quite a big experience from the big chair in the Town Hall. One has several forums they'll have to start getting active in, several areas unlocked in game that they will have to learn about, and all the functions associated with the position. Being the Mayor of the capital of Somerset is no easy task, and those who hold the job should be held with great respect. At times they will face mounting difficulties managing the Axes needed for cutting wood. The rather low treasury and scarce population also makes things difficult in managing any sort of self-reliant financing. Possibly most important is to note that since capitals get a cap of one field per citizen, and only has room for 200 fields, production of certain goods may become problematic, and require help from traders in neighboring towns. Of course, one can relish they in the fact that there is no strict code on how to perform your job while in office. What policies you follow, what Decrees you decide should be kept or made, how will the Town Council be used, and much more; these are decided by you and you alone. Welcome to the Mayor's Office of Bristol. Daily Activities as Mayor The job of being the Mayor requires that you be extremely active. You have to at least check the game once a day to do your work as Mayor, and will commonly have to check as often as possible in regards to the Bristol Grand Market, the status of the Town Hall, and messages that may have been sent to you. Additionally, you will want to record statistics that are given to you, manage grants from the Town Hall, manage security for the Town as needed, and handle legal matters concerning the citizens as issues and events occur over your time in office. Some more in-depth details involving what you will be checking on daily: You will be checking your mail for requests, reports, complaints, and everything else from citizens inside the town, parties approaching Bristol, people of important positions, and sometimes from soldiers looking to defend Bristol and the county. Checking your mail varies, as you may be receiving mail more rapidly then other times, but you will be doing this frequently. You will be working with your Chief Marshal and Town Mentor, as well as Councilors on the County Council. You will work with the Captain, the Constable, and your Town's Chief Marshall in regards to security for the Town Hall and County Castle, the Trade Minister, Mines Superintendent and Sheriff in regards to economic matters, the Town Mentor in regards to the handling of new arrivals. On a whole, you will be working with all of the County Council in matters regarding the passing on Decrees for just the Town Hall of Bristol. Matters regarding other people vary, you will be in close contact with your Chief Marshal daily for sure; the others you just need to pay attention too if they drop you a note, or if events begin to happen. In regards to Statistics, you'll want to be posting these in the Bristol Town Council daily. This is important since this can give an idea to the state of the treasury and inventory of the Town Hall. If a revolt were to happen for example, this would be the information before the revolt that you would go by to see what happen between the time you were kicked out, to after the Town Hall was recaptured. It is also important because it notes the general make up of the town. This you only need to do once a day in any case. You'll want to buy goods on the Bristol Grand Market. Through either the autobuy or through direct action with the Town Hall treasury, you will manage the market. Those goods you can then sell to the rest of the county, store in the Town Hall Inventory, stock into the Town Hall Tavern, or help in obtaining information in case you suspect illegal activity. You will also buy from the Trade Minister and from Traders and Mayors of the nearby towns. From the Trade Minister you will generally buy Iron Ore for the Blacksmiths in Bristol, but it may also include the purchase of Axes and cheap goods if needed. Generally from nearby towns you will by stated foods for sale in Bristol Grand Market, specifically Fish and Fruit. Usually buying goods is something you will do once every one or two days, sometimes more. More importantly then buying goods though, is of course selling goods. The Town Hall sells excess wood and other goods to make money. It also sells good in a sense to act as a regulator in the market; essentially by giving a max price to sell things. You'll be selling traders and Mayors in nearby towns, as well as to the Trade Minister. Usually selling is something that is done much more rarely then buying, so you won't be doing this daily, but you should also check to see if you can make a sale. Of course, since Bristol is a Wood Town, Axes need to be checked to see if any have become blunt, or worse, have broke, and need to be sharpened or replaced. If possible, contacting the Blacksmiths and Town and getting them to help out is the best way to solve such problems. However, out of necessity you might have to contact neighboring towns. Axes need to be checked on daily. Probably the last thing you will need to check is the Town's State Points. If you start running low you'll need to hire some civil servants to replace the points your using. This you won't be doing often, but if you start using State Points rapidly in some area, you had better check to see if you are running low. This about sums up all the important things you will have to check daily. You may need to do additional activities though, such as issuing grants to Blacksmiths and using the Town Halls Mayor's Message or the Mayor's Mass Mail feature; but this will be discussed later in the guide. Giving out Grants There are two ways that you can distribute goods from the Town Hall. You can either sell the goods through the Market or award Grants to people. A Grant has a distinctive advantage over just putting an item on the market, in that the person receiving the grant can have more control over buying the item, thus preventing someone else from coming along and buying it. A Grant is in itself a contract, as much as it is written, so abusing a Grant can warrant legal proceedings. Grants are commonly used in one of two ways in Bristol: To award Iron Ore to Blacksmiths wanting to make items like Knives, Buckets, Swords, and Axes; and to issue Axe Sharpening Grants. There are other uses though such as for Trade, and for Inventory Security as well; but these instances as much less common and may not even occur during your term as Mayor. When making a Grant out to a citizen, you write in the terms for the Grant and add in the amount of money needed to carry out the Grant. After that you may transfer in from the Town Hall Inventory. Finally you award the Grant to the person you intend to give the Grant too. A Grant can be as simple or as complex as you wish it to be, but keep in mind that the citizen who you give the Grant too needs to understand how to use the Grant, and making it more complex gives way to possible mistakes being made. Therefore try to keep Grants as simple as possible unless the person your giving the Grant too knows what they are doing. Now, you are welcome to write a Grant out in whatever way you wish, but I will give some examples for the two more commonly issued Grants and how I would write them: Iron Ore Grants and Axe Sharpening Grants. Iron Ore Grant For the Iron Ore Grant, simple create an empty Grant, with no money in it. For the terms in the Grant, give the instructions that 'the Blacksmith is to put the Iron Ore on the market for 'X' each, and then buy the Iron Ore from the market with his own money. After buying the Iron Ore he is to return the Grant to the Town Hall.' Add in the needed Iron Ores you wish to award, and then issue the Grant to the Blacksmith. If you wish, when making Iron Ore Grants you may expand them to do a bit more. For example, you may add in a 3 unhooped buckets and tell the Blacksmith to specifically make 3 Buckets. You might also add a shaft and tell him to specifically make an Axe. You might even decide to buy the items for the Town Hall, and include a Wage with additional Terms to buy the Iron Ore and other goods, and then the next day sell those goods back into the Grant for the Wage; and then cancel the Grant to return those goods to the Town Hall. It is in your power as Mayor to do so if you wish. Axe Sharpening Grant For the Axe Sharpening Grant, decide first what wage you are going to be paying to the Blacksmith for the axe(s) he will sharpen, and how axes he will be given to sharpen. I will denote the Wage as being 'W', and the amount of Axes to be denoted as 'A'. Go to make out a Grant and include W x A money, along with the terms of the Grant. Then move the Blunted Axes you wish to sharpen into the Grant. Finally, issue out the Grant. For the terms, write something similar to the following, though it doesn't have to be written exactly this way (be sure to use numbers and not algebra): “Please sharpen these axes and return them to the town hall when you’re done. Sell the blunted axe from the Grant in the market for ‘B’ price and buy it with your own money. Work on it for the day. The next reset put the now sharpened axe on the market for ‘B’ + ‘W’ wage. Then go into the Grant and buy it for that price into the Grant. Repeat process ‘A’ times. When all axes have been sharpened and the money in the Grant is 0, cancel the Grant. I suggest that you should sell the blunted axes out of the Grant to yourself for 150-170 pounds as to avoid someone coming along and buying the cheaper blunted axe. Then just add ‘W’ wage to the finished axe to buy back into the Grant. This will result in the axe going back into the grant and you getting your Wage. Canceling the grant will automatically send all the contents of the Grant to the Town Hall’s Inventory. Axes can not be sold or bought for less then 140 pounds, so make sure when selling the blunted axes that they are 140 pounds - ‘W’ wage or more or else you will have less money in the Grant then 140 pounds and will not be able to buy the sharpened axe back into the Grant.” To avoid trouble, you might just want to give them a set price to sell and buy things, rather then leaving it up to them. In additional you would be able to avoid writing the last 2 paragraphs and shorten the terms of the Grant considerably. However, it is up to you to do this or not. The need for Civil Servants Running a town is a bureaucratic endeavor, and as such, it is sometimes necessary to hire civil servants as you make use of the Town Hall's functions. You'll need to regularly check to see if you are running out of State Points, and if you will need to have some generated to prevent them from running out. There are different types of State points which service different functions: Government, Finance, Justice, Communication, Trading, and Army. For now, you can ignore Government and Army, Government isn't coded, and Army isn't needed for running the Town's functions. For the rest however: Trading - Each Trade point counts as 10000 pounds worth of buying and selling you can do. If you run out, no more buying or selling until you get more Trade Points. Communication - For use in Mass Mail and Calendar Functions. Not exactly too important if not used, but if you use those functions, you'll need Communication Points. Justice - While as Mayor, you can indict people for crimes. But you should probably leave this in the hands of the Public Prosecutor, so you won't have to pay for Justice Points. Finance - This is the most important of the State points, so MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AT LEAST 5 FINANCE POINTS. The Town will lose significant money if you are below 5 Finance Points. Taxes also require 5 Finance Points to be issued, but hopefully you will never have to worry about taxes. In regards to state points, try and get Civil Servants who will work to generate them for a cheap price. However, if you can't, try and match what the Sheriff issues the County Jobs for when offering prices, but don't go over it. Civil Servants refer to State Way Students, who have mastered certain skills in the State Way tree, that allows them to produce State Points. Before issuing a Civil Servant job, check to see is anyone can take it. If you don't know who is a State Way Student, contact the University Rector or County Sheriff, they'll help you out with some names. While Government State Points aren't coded in yet, watch in case they are. They will be used to keep your office opened, for without, you may find yourself getting locked out of your own office a lot; which will make them more important then the Finance Points. For some local names of some civil servants who are residents of Bristol: Adams State Government Points State Finance Points State Justice Points State Communication Points State Trading Points Suan State Government Points State Trading Points Clust State Government Points DavionFuxa State Government Points State Finance Points State Communication Points State Trading Points Grizelda State Government Points Town Hall Policy Being the Mayor, you decide your own policies on how the Town should be run. You can change them as you see fit if you think it necessary, as long as it isn't against the Laws of Somerset, the National Laws of England, or the Edicts of the King. You can do this at anytime really while you are in the Mayor's chair, and can revert changes you made as you wish. How you determine what policy you will follow, is entirely up to you. Keep in mind however that it is important to think first in any case, and that you may need help from other people to do what you want to do. Decide if you should discuss what you plan on doing with anyone, or work with anyone. Also consider that you need the County Council on your side to run the Town Hall effectively. Consider as well if you at all plan on getting elected during the next term, and if a certain policy might hurt your chances on getting reelected. Its similar to holding fire in your hands, it can burn you if you aren't careful with it. There are several mediums that you can use in regards to your policies. On the market and the Town Hall tavern, you can sell goods in an act of regulation to prices that others have to go by. You can name and delegate duties out to a Town Council, possibly to improve organization or to bring more value to Bristol's citizenry. You can broadcast your policy with the Mayor's Message, Mayor's Mass Mail, and Bristol Grand Hall board in the forums. There are also limits to how you can utilize your policy. How much help you will get to help manage the finances for the Town Hall from outside sources, such as the County Council and citizens who donate money. That you can't issue a decree that conflicts with the Somerset Legal Corpus, I will discuss them then all then Briefly. Communication from the Mayor The Mayor himself has access to 2 powerful mediums for broadcasting his policies, the Mayor's Message viewed from the Town Hall, and the Mayor's Mass Mail feature that sends a letter to all the citizens in the town. He may also of course individually mail people or back use of the forums or taverns. It is important to get the word on on what you want to do, as sometimes a little communication can be more effective then heavy handed hardcore action. It also has a tendency to cause less unrest among people. Regulation of Prices for Goods and Services As was stated, you can use the goods in the inventory as a sort of stop-gap measure on the market to prevent people from going over certain prices. For example, take 100 bread and put it on the market at a price of 5.80 pounds, and people are going to find it rather difficult to sell bread at that price or higher. Additionally, you can set prices for things in the taverns. Set to a price of 0.74 pound for a mug of beer in the Town Hall Tavern, a tavern owner will probably either match that price, or charge somewhere between it an 0.70 pounds; he won't charge over it. It works similarly with food prices, refer to the bread example above. Purpose of the Town Council In the second forum, where you are probably reading this guide, there is the Bristol Town Council board. Here you can formulate coordination among people willing to help you in running the town, and that can be a big help. What the Mentor says, what gossip the Town Hall Tavern Bartender should spread, who will help you with grantlocking the Town Hall inventory, and so forth; you get to see discussions about it in the Town Hall. As a note, you don't actually have to name a Town Council, you don't even have to name a mayor or employ a Town Hall Tavern Bartender. You could do all of this by yourself if you really wished too. But sometimes having people to help and support your position works well. A Town Council can also be useful in determining who might take over as mayor at the end of a term as well. Though this hasn't been done here in Bristol. The County Council in Relation to Bristol More then anywhere else in the county, Bristol needs a strong relation with the County Council for financing, and for getting Town Decrees passed. The Capital is quite the needed place, in that we spend a great deal on our finances since we don't really make enough, and being the capital we have to have a strong defense, since the County Council Castle is located here in the capital. So coordination is something you need to take into consideration. Limits of the Town Hall Treasury As stated above, your finances aren't that great. You'll be losing money to waste and for paying people to defend the town everyday, but you will also have to worry about paying for sharpening and replacing axes as well. If you want to make purchases for goods to sell or the citizens, or to manage the market, you'll be in a rather fragile position to do so. END OF GUIDE Category:Guides